2018-11-01 Thu

Rare postage stamps have been auctioned for impressive amounts all over the world. Let’s take a look at some of the most expensive stamps that have been sold so far.

The Treskilling Yellow Stamp was supposed to be issued in blue-green colour with the three-skilling print. However, it was accidentally printed in yellow in 1855. Just one such stamp exists today which has a market value of €2.1 million.

The Canada 12-pence black or the Black Empress of Canada was issued in 1851 featuring a portrait of Queen Victoria. The portrait is called Chalon Head as it’s similar to the one drawn by Alfred Edward Chalon. Over 50,000 stamps were printed but only a few of them were sold. Many of these unsold stamps were destroyed in 1857. Today, only 100 odd examples exist.

The Baden 9 Kreuzer stamp from the German state of Baden was accidentally printed in green instead of pink. The 6- Kreuzer stamp was supposed to be printed in green. Only four such error stamps exist today.

The Edward VII Tyrian Plum from Britain was issued in 1910 to replace the two-colour two-pence stamp featuring a portrait of King Edward VII. 24 million stamps were printed but most of them were destroyed after the sudden death of the king in May 1910. Only a few such stamps exist today, making them very expensive.

An 8 fens Chinese stamp was issued in 1968 during the Cultural Revolution. Designed by Wang Weisheng, the stamp symbolised the rise in Communism in China. The original design featured the map of Taiwan in white. The error stamp with an all-red design was noticed and the printing was halted. However, some of these rare error stamps went into the hands of collectors.

Image Courtesy: Google Images